State Sen. Nancy Spence, left, receives her award from state Sen. Suzanne Williams, a member of the ACECC board.

Let’s start this week On A Positive Note by telling you about some awards, three folks who are on the move (in a jobs kind of way) and some good news on the golf tournament fundraising front.

State Sen. Nancy Spence and Arapahoe County Commissioner Susan Beckman have been named Early Childhood Champions for 2012 by the Arapahoe County Early Childhood Council. They accepted the awards at a ceremony held at the Arapahoe County Centrepointe Plaza in Aurora.

Spence served on the Cherry Creek Board of Education for 13 years prior to being elected to the Colorado House of Representatives and then to the Colorado Senate. She served two terms as the chair of the House Education Committee and now serves on the Senate Education Committee.

“She has sponsored numerous bills that have changed the fabric of Colorado and made it a better place for young children,” noted the ACECC’s executive director, Gretchen Davidson. Davidson also noted that in 2001, Spence was named Legislator of the Year by the Colorado Association of Community Centered Boards, that she is a founding member of the Cherry Creek Schools Education Foundation and that during the immediate past legislative session, she served on the bipartisan Senate Children’s Caucus.

Beckman has been in office for 12 years, and during that time has been a staunch supporter of allocating county funds for improving the quality of child care in Arapahoe County. She has served as chair of Colorado Counties Inc. Health and Human Services Steering Committee since 2009, and in this role has testified in support of numerous bills aimed at improving human services.

Arrupe Jesuit High School‘s Golf Invitational raised $250,000; the 11th Kunsberg Classic, sponsored by RE/MAX and Shanahan’s Steakhouse, brought in $210,000 for Kunsberg School on the National Jewish Health campus; and the Andy Smith Golf Tournament at Hiwan Golf Club raised $30,000 for the Evergreen Park and Recreation District’s special needs programs, Evergreen Christian Outreach and the Mountain Foothills Rotary Foundation.

More good stuff

MuckRuckus 2012, where participants get down and dirty for a good cause, raised $250,000 for Colorado-Wyoming chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society … Oxford Club, Spa and Salon celebrated its 25th anniversary by donating $800 to Spa4ThePink, which treats cancer patients to a free spa visit … The 2012 Colorado Dragon Boat Festival had 110,000 visitors.